Author's note: I had wanted to post something sooner this week, but I'm dealing with an inflammation which makes concentrating on writing a bit harder than I anticipated. Have this in the meantime; I hope to update more this weekend still.

Warnings: Dual pov; canon divergent after the war; established slash; OC making poor decisions; violence; character deaths

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it!


It Starts Now

"Do you have a death wish?" Yasu's voice couldn't be flatter if he tried. His gaze narrowed; the scar crossing right over his left eye bunching together with the action. He had been leaning towards the fire, attempting to roast the fish they had caught, but now he was leaning away; his food forgotten for the moment.

"What about my idea constitutes me having a death wish?" Yuto asked impatiently.

"I told you my rules; I specifically explained what kind of people we do not at-" the long haired man started to argue, but Yuto interjected.

"And I kept those rules in mind! You said we don't go after the ones with high positions – this one doesn't have a high position!" he retorted triumphantly. In fact from what he had heard, their potential target had the lowest of rankings a shinobi could have. Surprising, considering his contributions to the war, but it was what it was. Even with the low ranking, the guy still made one hell of an amazing target.

"Pretty sure even the biggest idiot on this earth knows the guy is slated to become the next Hokage!" Yasu sneered, turning his attention back to his fish, hissing annoyed when the fire spat out some sparks, nearly burning his hand. "Need I remind you that's a fucking big position to have?"

"You said it yourself: slated to become, he isn't Hokage yet," Yuto reminded him, leaning forwards himself now. "Might even be a while still; who knows what the fuck the current Hokage is thinking. Come on, man, you know just as well as I do that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"Yeah, a once in a lifetime opportunity to get fucked up ourselves – and that's if he doesn't immediately kill us!" Yasu snapped; his dark eyes flashing with anger. "Just because he isn't a Hokage yet doesn't mean he's fucking weak. You don't become a hero of the war by lying back on your lazy arse, you dumb fuck!"

"Where in my explanation did I ever say that we would confront him directly?" Yuto demanded impatiently, rapping his fingers against his knee. "I'm not a fucking idiot; I know very well we can't take him head on!" He huffed, scowling at the other man. Honestly, you'd think the douchebag would know by now that Yuto knew fully well what he was doing! Whose plans had always been successful? His!

"We can't attack him in the village either," Yasu shot back annoyed. "We might as well just offer ourselves to the ANBU right there and then!"

"Gods, you really didn't listen at all, did you?" Yuto said irritated. "I told you we can set up a trap when he passes through this forest in two days. We wait until he falls asleep and gas the area then; doubt even someone with a monster sealed inside can do shit when he's being poisoned!"

"Okay, first of all how do you even know for certain he'll be passing through here? We're not exactly close to Konoha, genius," Yasu scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Second of all, there's no way he's going to be alone. I don't fucking care how strong he is, there's no way in hell that village will let him leave on his own; they'd be stupid to do so."

"I got the information two days ago when you were pissing away our money on booze," Yuto said dismissively, ducking neatly out of the way when an enraged Yasu threw a small rock at him.

"Oh, you got the information two days ago, huh?" Yasu repeated mockingly, narrowing his eyes again.

"When has my intel ever been wrong?" Yuto demanded, raising an eyebrow. When the other man pursed his lips, he nodded triumphantly. "Yeah, thought so. You know goddamn well my information is always solid."

"You haven't explained what you're going to do with the ones who will be accompanying him, though," Yasu pointed out with a thin smile. "And don't even try to suggest he'll be on his own; even if he hadn't been the last Jinchuuriki, no shinobi does their mission alone."

"We gas them all and take him away," Yuto explained and shrugged. "You act like we've never done that before. Don't care how powerful they are, nobody can withstand that gas you created."

He was still trying to figure out what exactly the composition of that gas was actually, but Yasu remained annoyingly tight-lipped about it. The only thing Yuto had found out so far was that the recipe had been taught to Yasu by his sensei – who that sensei had been was also still a mystery. One definitely couldn't accuse Yasu of being a blabbermouth, that was for sure.

"Let's say I agree to this insane plan," Yasu began, as if he wasn't the one who usually came up with the outrageous ideas, "I hope you realise there's no way we can do our usual routine. We show up to take the money, we're as good as dead."

"Are you a shinobi or what?" Yuto rolled his eyes. "We'll use some clones that we'll disguise and have them drop the money at one particular point. We'll be fine. How many times haven't we done this so far? This time it's an actual big prize! Just imagine how much money we can demand for him!"

Just as he had expected, the mention of the shit ton of money they could demand in exchange for Konoha's Jinchuuriki was causing Yasu to waver, rethinking his initial refusal. That was exactly the reason why Yuto wanted to take on this target. Yes, they couldn't underestimate the Jinchuuriki at all and they definitely had to be careful, but just imagining the mountain of money they could get for this guy … Shit, they might never have to pull another stint in their life if they did this right!

"Don't make me regret this," Yasu warned him, pointing his kunai threateningly at Yuto.

Yuto simply smirked, leaning back on his hands. In two days they would pull off their biggest stint yet; he couldn't fucking wait.


The good news was that Yuto's intel had been right. Of course it had been; his information was never wrong. Uzumaki, Konoha's Jinchuuriki and one of the main heroes of the war, was indeed making his way through the forest. Currently he was looking around the field, judging its suitability to set up camp for the night. He wasn't alone, but that had been as expected. No shinobi undertook missions on their own; even ANBU tended to cluster together in pairs at the minimum. Uzumaki being joined by somebody else wasn't the problem; what was an issue however – and which made it some pretty bad news – was the fact that he was being accompanied by none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Yuto pressed his lips tightly together, not even needing to glance sideways to know Yasu was glaring him down. Even if one had lived underneath a rock for the past decade, everybody knew how Uchiha was. Heir to a completely decimated clan, in possession of one of the most ruthless Kekkei Genkai and another hero of the war. The only one who had managed to one up that snake bastard Orochimaru and one of the very few with balls so huge he had dared to attack a Kage meeting. Powerful, cold hearted and absolutely merciless: Uchiha had made quite the name for himself in just a couple of years.

"Still feeling confident in your plan?" Yasu drawled, but his jaw was clenched and the knuckles of his right hand were turning white with how tightly he was gripping his kunai. The branch they were sitting on creaked slightly when he adjusted his weight.

"You strengthened your gas formula, didn't you?" Yuto asked in a low voice, keeping his gaze aimed at the pair of men down below.

Uzumaki was laughing at whatever Uchiha was telling him; the dark haired man himself looked entirely unamused, lifting an eyebrow.

"It's one thing to take down that Jinchuuriki," Yasu said intently. "It's a whole other thing to take on Uchiha of all people and you damn well know it! Didn't your intel say anything about whom would be joining Uzumaki?"

"No, because they weren't sure who would be joining him!" Yuto snapped back, remembering to keep his voice low just in time. "Look, yeah, Uchiha isn't a wuss but he's still just a human like the rest of us. He's not going to withstand that gas of yours; I don't give a fuck how strong he is."

"You better hope he doesn't," Yasu said darkly. "If we have to take it up with him … We might as well just slit our throats and save him the effort."

Yuto rolled his eyes secretly, turning his attention back to the two men below. For somebody who had made quite the name for himself in just two years, Yasu really could be such a wuss. If the people he had screwed over before could hear him now …

Uchiha might be a force to be reckoned with but at the end of the day he was still human – and no human could withstand Yasu's poison recipe.


The moon was high up in the sky by the time Uzumaki finally retreated into their tent. It wouldn't provide any cover against their attack, though. Earlier tonight Yuto had managed to create a couple of tiny rips in the fabric by shooting needles through it. The rips weren't noticeable, especially not in the dark, but they were large enough for the gas to pass through. Just breathing it in once was enough to knock somebody out for three hours; that should give them enough time to grab Uzumaki and put enough distance between them and this place.

"Looks like Uchiha is the one on watch," Yasu murmured, idly rolling the can containing the gas between his two hands.

"Doesn't matter; it'll just make it easier to grab a hold of Uzumaki," Yuto said and shrugged.

Uchiha had done an entire lap around the field, bearing quite the foul look. Clearly setting up camp here hadn't been his idea; Yuto had overheard him arguing that they should have used some sort of portal to make the trip. He had no idea what kind of portal they had been talking about, but he was pretty grateful for Uzumaki's stubbornness!

As Yuto watched, Uchiha meandered over to the small fire, plopping down on the log in front of it. The flames illuminated his face, showing part of his heavy scowl. His katana rested next to him, leaning partly against the log.

"You ready?" Yuto whispered, tying the thick mask around his face to cover up his mouth and nose. The mask wasn't exactly comfortable to wear but it was the only way to keep the gas from hitting him.

"Let's do this and hope it works," Yasu murmured, adjusting his own mask.

He raised the can in the air, paused for a moment and flung it harshly to the ground. The can hit the forest floor with a dull 'thump', alerting Uchiha immediately.

He jumped up, snatching up his katana, and Yuto heard him utter, "What the f-" before the can exploded and the poisonous gas spread across the clearing like a giant purple ominous cloud. It covered the field so quickly Uchiha didn't even get the time to jump up, let alone run away. Yuto could hear a slurred curse before a second dull 'thump' noise echoed through the air. Right after that, the cloud of gas started to dissipate, drifting apart until not even a whisper remained. The speed with which it disappeared was one of the main reasons why Yuto and Yasu hadn't been caught yet; it was difficult to collect evidence when there was no evidence to be found.

Yuto grinned underneath the thick mask when he spotted Uchiha unconscious on the ground. It looked like even the all mighty Uchiha could not withstand the gas; just like he had expected!

He nudged Yasu's arm. "Told you this would work," he pointed out.

"Tone down the arrogance before I knock it out of you," Yasu grumbled, but he appeared a lot more relaxed now.

"You really need to start trusting me." Yuto clucked his tongue and jumped down, bending his knees to lessen the impact when he landed on the ground.

Yasu landed right next to him, snorting quietly. "You should be glad I didn't kick the shit out of you when you came up with this insane idea. Come on now, let's grab Uzumaki before we test fate too much."

They walked to the tent, Yuto kicking away the can when he went past it. It sailed through the air, landing in a nearby bush. Bending down slightly, he grabbed the zipper of the tent, sliding it upwards. The flaps of the tent drifted apart as the zipper went higher and higher, revealing –

Something purple that … rippled faintly? What the actual fuck?

"Motherfucker!" Yasu cursed, jumping backwards. "Get the fuck away right now!"

"What? You recognise this?" Yuto asked surprised, backing away from the tent. "What is it? Some kind of barrier?"

"Something like that," a cold voice piped up.

Yuto whirled around, grabbling for his kunai – only for his blood to turn into ice when he saw Uchiha standing right in front of them.

Wide-eyed, he hastily looked at the place where he knew he had seen Uchiha lying unconscious on the ground and saw him still lying there. Fuck. A goddamn clone. They had got tricked by a fucking clone; the easiest trick in the book, literally one of the first jutsu a kid learnt to perform. Motherfucker!

"I'd say next time you're better off checking the ones you try to gas, but well," Uchiha smirked sinisterly, "there's not going to be a next time."

Something purple flashed in his left eye. The next moment he suddenly disappeared and something wet and hot splashed across Yuto's cheek. Numbly, Yuto brought his hand to his cheek, touching the liquid. When he brought his hand back in his sight, lifting it up so that the moonlight would catch it, he was greeted by dull red.

Blood.

Slowly, every muscle in his body moving agonisingly slow, he turned around and saw Yasu. Yasu, the nightmare of the underworld. Yasu, whose big frame alone made most people quiver in fear, whose poison had become infamous after just one year.

Yasu, whose throat was slit so deeply, blood gushed out of him like a geyser; his head clinging to his body by just a mere thread of muscle. Dark eyes were wide with terror, hands reached up as if to cover the deep gash – Yasu dropped down dead, his blood soaking into the earth. Behind him Uchiha stood; the blade of his katana dripping with Yasu's blood.

One blink and Uchiha suddenly stood right in front of Yuto.

Another blink and Uchiha smirked; the smile chilling when he raised his katana. "Hello," he murmured; the blade flashing briefly in the milky white moonlight. "Goodbye."

Yuto tasted iron before he even registered that the katana was deeply embedded in his stomach. He coughed up some blood and looked down in utter disbelief, seeing the blade stick partly out of him while his blood dripped down alongside of it.

How … How had everything suddenly become so messed up? How had they – how had they completely missed the fact that Uchiha had used a clone? How was it possible for one man to be so quick?

How could they fuck up so badly?

How could everything have – how could – how could –

Red and purple stared him down, the distance between him and the colours widening more and more when his strength left him. He felt himself buckle through his knees, watching dazed how the katana was ripped out of him. He opened his mouth to say something, anything before –

Everything turned black.


When Naruto flipped over to his other side and opened his eyes, his sleepy state instantly made way for alertness upon seeing Sasuke's Susanoo covering him entirely. He shot up, pushing himself off from the ground but before he could completely get out of his sleeping bag, the tent opened up and Susanoo disappeared entirely.

"Sasuke, what the hell happened?" Naruto asked bewildered, feeling both relieved and confused when Sasuke appeared uninjured after Naruto ran the torchlight over him.

"Had a couple of idiots thinking they could attack you," he answered clipped, zipping the tent shut behind him.

"Oh." Naruto paused for a couple of seconds and placed the torch on the ground between them. "You dealt with them?"

"Obviously," Sasuke snorted and even in the weak light of the torch, his gaze was piercing when he stared at Naruto. "Told you we should have used a portal to get there."

"Okay, it's not like we get attacked so often," Naruto argued. "This was just a rare instance. You didn't need to cover me with Susanoo, by the way, I could have handled them just fine!"

"You're really going to argue with me right after we got attacked? When I told you we'd be better off using a portal?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Naruto pouted before he huffed. "It's nice to just spend time together, though," he muttered, plucking at a loose thread of his sleeping bag.

Sasuke's sigh made his hair ruffle against his forehead. The torch was shut off, blanketing the tent in pure darkness; only a little bit of moonlight filtered through the cloth. A hand reached out and landed on Naruto's side, squeezing him gently there.

"Next time we'll use a portal to get there; we can take a longer route on the way back," Sasuke compromised and put pressure against Naruto's side, making him lie down again.

"Shouldn't one of us remain on guard in case others show up?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows.

"There's nobody else nearby," Sasuke answered, lying down as well. "But I've got a clone outside so if something happens, we'll be warned. If something else does happen, we will be using a portal."

"Yes, yes," Naruto sighed because clearly the bastard wasn't going to let this go.

His annoyance didn't even get a chance to make itself known, however, because lips pressed against his next in a sweet kiss.

"Love you," Sasuke murmured against his mouth.

Naruto grinned, a warmth filling up his chest that had nothing to do with his sleeping bag. "Love you too," he replied, still feeling butterflies in his stomach even though they had started dating more than a year ago.

He shuffled closer against Sasuke, humming when he felt the man tightening his grip around him. Perhaps using a portal to return wouldn't be so bad after all.

Especially if that portal ended up straight into the bedroom.

The End


AN: *sniffs* Do I smell a new series? Perhaps I do. Let me know what you think of this!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in my future stories! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.